It was a cold Autumn. The faint rays of afternoon sunlight did little to alleviate the chilly winds which made leaves of yellow, orange, and red dance in the air along peaty scents of decaying plant matter. Amidst untamed temperate woodland, a mouse ran for her life.
It was no ordinary rodent, though. The mouse was not tiny, nor a mere beast. It was a monstrous mouse slightly bigger than its mundane brethren, a creature mutated by infusion of energies borne of a higher dimension than the ordinary four common creatures lived in. Such energy was often called Mana by scholars. Living creatures touched by Mana sometimes displayed no outward changes in their appearances, which was the fleeing mouse's case. Upon visual inspection, it looked no different from the ordinary cellar-dwelling vermin.
Yet to the right set of eyes, it would be anything but. This rodent packed inside its mana channels, the metaphysical circulatory system projected into upper dimensions which housed Mana inside a creature's body, enough energy to make an [Archmage] drool. The power and significance the critter bore was peerless in that forgotten corner of the world.
it was of little avail to the creature, though. The mouse had no way to use the energies on its own behalf, or for any purpose, at all. That made the critter doubly a prey animal, for its predators could feed on both flesh and Mana. Whoever turned the fleeing critter their mid-afternoon snack. They would be hard-pressed to earn such a feast, though. This particular rodent's mutation multiplied its speed by more than tenfold.
Yet it didn't lack pursuers. Wild bobcats which climbed down from their mountain lairs in search of food smelled delicious prey and set themselves on hot pursuit. A band of four spent all their stamina and Mana to push their speed to the limit and chase the mouse.
A buck idly grazing in a clearing startled at their passing a second after they were already gone. Raising its head to stare in the wake of the bobcats, it snorted in relief it wasn't about to become dinner. It failed entirely to notice the rodent's fleeting passing, only its pursuers. The bobcats, running at breakneck speeds, were long gone when the buck panicked.
It was fated to be. The poor rodent, despite its speed, was clumsily stumbling along the woodlands. Trip on a twig here, smash a paw against a pebble there. To the tiny critter, those were almost unsurmountable obstacles. The prey animal dared glance behind itself and smashed into a root.
Yet the mouse wasn't yet ready to give up even though it was dazed and disoriented. Just like some bowl of petunias in a faraway planet, the mouse thought, "oh, not again!" No hitchhiking subjects of Her Majesty were involved, though.
The bobcats pounced on the mouse, and with a swift bite, one of them became victorious, running away from its peers with the prize tucked between its fangs, blood dripping on the forest floor.
Yet the mouse resisted for a few minutes, then died. Just before it expired, the critter heard a chime like one of those hotel bells. To better understand what happened next, we need to backtrack to the start of the day.
*
----------------------------------------
*
Elias Hamilton had mixed feelings about his name and his whole being. He was at that age when young men usually have mixed feelings about everything. He was a teenager kid in San Francisco, California. He caught COVID-19 early during the pandemic and had to be hospitalized. Perhaps because of his young age or a strong constitution, he survived the deadly virus.
Days after he was discharged from the hospital, early in the morning, Elias walked into the local grocery store when the security guard was looking the other way. He had a budget of eighty dollars and a duty to fetch breakfast for his three sisters. He had no cash, checks, or plastic with him, though. All he had was Chesa Boudin's promise he wouldn't go to jail.
Elias had mixed feelings about that policy too. On one hand, it meant they didn't have to rely on their mother's minimum wage waitress job for food and that was good, but on the other hand, he was shoplifting which should be a crime. The young man didn't understand how that worked and he believed some government fund paid for the goods he took.
Yes, that was the rationale he went by. Of course, an elected official wouldn't just allow crime to run rampant and government had a lot of taxpayer money. By some process unknown to him, things must be balanced up at the other end, with the grocery store being reimbursed by money from that fund. This government cared for the little guy, the poor, and even the drug addicts! Heck, he even heard they were giving syringes and pipes so people wouldn't share their drug paraphernalia and catch diseases! And a place for the addicts to use their drugs so they could get help if things went awry. What a time to be alive! The downtrodden population were finally getting the help they needed to make ends meet!
He took what he needed from the grocery and hid it in his jacket. All he needed to do now was to walk out without drawing attention to himself from the security guard. The store probably had issues with waiting for the government to repay what Elias took, he thought. After all, if his mom's visit to the DMV was an example of how fast things were resolved when Uncle Sam was involved, that should take a lot of time. Government bureaucracy and red tape and red herrings, and all that. Red things were bad.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
He probably should've paid more attention at school. Too late now. Elias wouldn't have another chance to attend school. The security guard had spotted him.
"Hey, you! With the green jacket! Freeze!" The burly man shouted and drew his gun.
Elias stared at the weapon, frozen in shock. This was California, not Texas or some other bullshit red state with their NRA's and people toting AR-15s while going for a bicycle ride. Why would a grocery store security guard have a gun? He raised his hands to the sky to show his surrender.
"He has a gun!" The guard roared as he pulled the trigger.
Elias was shot right in the solar plexus. He felt a burning sting in his chest, then the world spun as he fell down, staring at the ceiling. He tasted the metallic tang of blood on his throat, and the world went dark.
*
----------------------------------------
*
"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" A man dressed like a Circus Ringmaster, complete with the gem-studded red tux and a top hat and a twirly mustache greeted Elias.
The young man looked around. He was in a featureless space, with a lot of smoke clinging to and obscuring the floor, and a blue sky above him, with the sun halfway between the horizon and the zenith. He didn't feel cold or hot, and he didn't feel any pain. Elias touched his chest and found no wound.
Was this a dream? The guy in gaudy clothes felt like a scammer.
"No, no, it's not a dream," the Ringmaster cheerfully replied to his thoughts. Elias was sure he hadn't said a word. "I am afraid you are dead, Mr. Hamilton."
What? No way.
"Yes way. Look, let's get things started. This is not heaven, just a waystation for lost souls. You are our 10,000,000,000th customer and that grants you a spin on our...
"WHEEL. OF. WONDERS!"
With a great fanfare including an invisible marching band drumming in the background, the Ringmaster showed Elias one of those prize wheels one often saw on television.
"Come, come!" The Circus man pushed a confused Elias forward. "Spin the wheel and find your secret prize reincarnation power!"
"Wait, what? What's going on?"
"You died and now has a new shot at life. Can't you see the wonderful prizes written on the wheel?"
The Ringmaster pointed at some squiggly glyphs drawn along the pizza slices. Though he was fluent in both English and Spanish, Elias couldn't understand shit out of those squiggles.
"No, I can't."
"Well, too bad," the Ringmaster clicked his tongue as he took Elias' hand into one of the wheel spokes and pulled it down. The wheel spun while the Circus man squealed all the way, trying to get Elias excited. He failed miserably.
The wheel stopped.
"CONGRATULATIONS! You are going to the feral world of Iphenia! You won the [All You Can Eat] Skill."
"What? I won an iPhone?" A dazed Elias asked. "And a buffet voucher?"
The Ringmaster chortled and shrugged. "Meh, Close enough," he deadpanned, then went back to his over-the-top voice. "You are going to experience the most wondrous buffet there is, my lad!"
"Can I take my sisters with me?"
With a grin that showed too many pointy teeth and so wide it spat on what ordinary human anatomy could do, the ringmaster became feral and monstrous.
"NO!"
He pulled on one of those curtain tassels that came out of nowhere, and the ground underneath Elias disappeared.
The young man fell through space and time, galaxies and nebulae speeding past. Then a planet appeared like a tiny pinhead and grew vertiginously fast. Elias felt his skin burn as he entered that planet's atmosphere just like a meteoroid would, but without the rocky exterior. His body burned both because of the heat and because he was being infused with Mana for the first time.
The otherworldly energy flooded his veins and reinforced his body. Something chimed in his ears, and words appeared in front of him.
> * ding*
>
>
>
> > [Tutorial]: Newbie Protection activated. All damage taken in the next 72 hours is reduced by 99%.
>
> > [Tutorial]: Tutorial activated. Please use the time of your Newbie Protection to read the tutorial.
>
> > You gained [Fire Affinity I].
>
> > You gained [Fire Resistance I].
It was a miracle that he was still alive when he crashed on a temperate Autumn forest. Flocks of birds decided it would be wise to migrate south earlier this year and took off. A massive cloud of dust rose from the furrow the man caused when he touched grass.
> * ding *
>
>
>
> > You gained [Impact Resistance I].
>
> > [Status Window]: You have exhausted your free Skill allotment.
>
> > [Anti-Cheat]: You have exhausted your Newbie Protection damage allotment. Turning Newbie Protection off...
>
> > [Tutorial]: I hope you've learned all you could. Good luck.
Elias' whole body was in pain. Burned, broken, bleeding, he couldn't even groan. Or breathe. Mana kept him alive longer than he should. Then he died for the second time in the same day.
*
----------------------------------------
*
Meat was something hard to come by when one was a mouse in the woods. No wonder that this little guy would rush at the smell of barbecued human and try to find something to fill its tiny belly with. What he found was a wonder to behold. A crispy and tenderized man, soaking in a blood and mud gravy at the bottom of a crater.
The mouse started to chew and swallow with gusto. Then a chime rang in its ears.
> * ding *
>
>
>
> > [Status Window]: Skill [All You Can Eat] activated. Transferring consciousness to new host. As you are dead, no new Skills are granted at this time.
>
> > [Status Window]: CONGRATULATIONS! You are now a level 1 Mana-warped Wind Mouse.
>
> > You gained [Wind Speed I].
Elias' consciousness snapped back. What was he eating? Out of instinct, he flicked his whiskers and groomed his snout. What the hell?
"Squick, Squeak, Squig!" He complained out loud.
What the fuck was going on? What was this in front of him? A dead, burned giant?
Elias had little time to think. He heard some purrs and growls around him and climbed on the dead giant to take a better look. Some very angry-looking bobcats were prowling in his direction. Prey instincts took over and he ran.
> * ding *
>
>
>
> > [Status Window]: Skill [Wind Speed I] activated.
*
----------------------------------------
*
It was a cold Autumn in the feral world of Iphenia. The faint rays of afternoon sunlight did little to alleviate the chilly winds which made leaves of yellow, orange, and red dance in the air along peaty scents of decaying plant matter. Amidst untamed temperate woodland, Elias ran for his life on all four paws.